Captain Beefheart's pre-Trout Mask Replica creations were tampered with by recording company moguls. And yet, even today, Strictly Personal playfully conveys the artists's unique vernacular ("Ah Feel Like Ahcid"), and Safe As Milk undeniably remains the most underrated album of the era. Disavowing the use of LSD and pot, Beefheart nevertheless was consumed by the psychedelic era. He did manage, however, to transcend the epoch's cliches through his unique poetic voice--but not without losing a wide audience in the process. The age of "Ahcid" simply could not contend with an authentic genius.

Beefheart's old pal Frank Zappa, having been in advertising and marketing, could objectify the times and, as rock's equivalent to Marshall McLuhan, could manipulate his audience via cryptic messages, often satirical.

Zappa's first opus with his Mothers of Invention was Freak Out!, which was ugly, berserk, and very intellectual.  The album defined an LA sensibility, embracing while lampooning the approaching banalities of the times (multi-media events, happenings, grope sessions, concept albums) that, in 1966, had not yet entered the pop mainstream.

The Mothers of Invention embodied the anarchic ritual of "freaking out," a terms that still best describes the ridiculous poses of LA's finest psychos:  Kim Fowley's tongue-tied trips, the Seeds' flower power sham, Davie Allan and the Arrows' fuzzy soundtracks for a string of films about the Hell's Angels.

Originally signed by MGM as just another California folk-rock group (as described in "Trouble Every Day"), the Mothers--thanks to Zappa's flair for hype and organization--denied God in rock 'n' roll, forcing listeners to re-evaluate their preconceptions.

On "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" (12 grotesque minutes of percussive cacophony and terrible noises from Godzilla's churning bowels), the band destroyed the barriers between rock 'n' roll and all other musical forms. On Freak Out!, Zappa's music delineated a challenge alive with infinite possibilities.

That Zappa and the Mothers could make a leap from their traditional LA R&B and doo-wop backgrounds to "Help, I'm a Rock" is exactly what psychedelic awareness was all about.

Catch up on your post-modern musings daily by shopping at  POPKRAZY.